Pope Lucius I
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Lucius I was pope for eight months (253-254).
Born in Rome at an unknown date, nothing is known about his family except his father's name, Porphyrian. He was elected probably June 25, 253, and died March 5, 254. His election took place during the persecution which caused the banishment of his predecessor Pope Cornelius, and he also was banished soon after his consecration, but succeeded in gaining permission to return.
He is referred to in several letters of Cyprian (see Epist. Ixviii. 5) as having been in agreement with his predecessor Pope Cornelius in preferring the milder view on allowing restoration of lapsed penitents.
Tradition claims that he was martyred in the persecution of Valerian, but as that is known to have started later than March 254, this seems unlikely.
His tombstone is still extant in the cemetery of St. Calixtus. His relics were later brought to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, along with the relics of St Cecilia and others. His head is preserved in a reliquary in St Ansgar Catholic cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark. The relic was brought to Roskilde around the year 1100, after Lucius had been declared patron of the Danish region Zealand. It is among the few relics to have survived the Reformation in Denmark.
He is commemorated on March 4.
| Preceded by: Saint Cornelius | Pope 253–254 | Succeeded by: Saint Stephen I
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